Sports Vision

Sports vision is a growing niche in the eyecare industry. It only makes sense that an athlete who trains his or her body for peak physical performance should want his or her eyes to perform at the highest level as well.

When someone says their vision is 20/20, they are referring to their static visual acuity. That is how you see when you sit still and look at the ol' Snellen eye chart. Short of fitting you for glasses or contacts or performing laser surgery, an eye doctor cannot change your static vision.

We can, however, train your dynamic visual acuity in our sports vision center, The Competitive Edge. Dynamic visual acuity refers to how your eyes process information when you are in motion and/or when objects around you are in motion. In baseball, better hitters can see the ball better. In hockey, a goalie who can find the puck amidst all of the action in front of him will have a better save percentage.

There are applications for all sports. How important is peripheral vision to a quarterback or a point guard? Depth perception to a golfer? Processing quickly to a race driver?

At Cool Springs and Donelson EyeCare, our sports-minded doctors and staff employ more than eight pieces of state-of-the-art equipment in our large on-site gym, The Competitive Edge, to assist athletes of all ages in achieving their sport-specific goals.

Our goal is the same as yours: To help improve your performance through training your eyes.

You'll begin with a comprehensive sports vision examination. More than a standard eye exam, this evaluation provides a performance profile in areas such as eye-hand coordination, reaction time, visual concentration, peripheral awareness and depth perception. Upon completion of this work-up, you may enroll in a weekly training program, uniquely designed to enhance visual-motor performance in your particular sport.

The variety of visual skills needed for sports performance are:

Dynamic Visual Acuity “ the ability to see objects clearly while in motion

Eye Tracking “ the ability to "keep your eyes on the ball, no matter how fast it may be traveling

Eye Focusing “ changing focus quickly and accurately from one distance to another.

Peripheral Awareness “ seeing people and objects "out of the corner of your eye while concentrating on a fixed object.